By refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus in 1955, black seamstress Rosa Parks (1913—2005) helped initiate the civil rights movement in the United States. The leaders of the local black community organized a bus boycott that began the day Parks was convicted of violating the segregation laws. Led by a young Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the boycott lasted more than a year—during which Parks not coincidentally lost her job—and ended only when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional. Over the next half-century, Parks became a nationally recognized symbol of dignity and strength in the struggle to end entrenched racial segregation. (Source: Black History, The History Channel)

We as Americans today need to learn from leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King and citizens like Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks taught us there is a right way to make our voices heard and to stand up for what we believe and for our rights as citizens-a way where the rights and welfare of others is respected and dignity is preserved. It is a way without hate speech and violence. Yet, so many choose the way of hatred and destruction, never considering the rights, feelings, or needs of others who may disagree but who certainly have the same human rights as themselves.

What has our nation become? Have we as a people forgotten the values our founding fathers and Christian leaders have laid down for and taught us? Have we lost our dignity and all respect for our fellow citizens? We, as Americans, need to earnestly PRAY for God’s mercy, forgiveness, wisdom, and guidance in the days ahead. Let us look to and learn from the lives of those who have stood for the rights of citizens and have done so without hate-filled speech and violent demonstrations. Let us pursue our causes with loving hearts and with Almighty God as our guide and remember the sacrifices of the brave men and women who risk their lives every day for our freedoms and protection. There is a better way!

Zacheriah 7:9: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another.”

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Inspirational Quotes & Scripture Verses

"The greatest science in the world, in heaven and on earth, is love." - Mother Teresa

"You cannot finish the book of life without closing it's chapters. If you want to go on... then you have to leave the past as you turn the pages." - Author Unknown

"Character cannot be developed in peace and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision be cleared, ambition insured and success achieved." - Helen Keller

"I have found a paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love" - Mother Teresa

"If you don't get a miracle... become one." - Nick Vujicic

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'." - Erma Bombeck

Psalm 111:2: "Great are the works of the LORD; they are studied by all who delight in them." (NASB)

Colossians 1:17: “He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.” (NIV)

Jeremiah 6:16: “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and seek, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” (KJV)

Proverbs 3:3,4: "Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man." (NKJV)

Lamentations 3;22-24: "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him." (KJV)

Ephesians 3:17-19: "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge— that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (NIV)